Jack Morris, the Toronto pitching ace, was talking, and so I listened:
“Last year at this time we probably had seven team meetings. The president of the club talked to us. The chairman of the board. The manager. They told us how we were expected to win. Everybody in Canada expected us to win.”
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Obedient, the Blue Jays did as they were told. They won their first American League pennant and beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.
Morris was silent for a moment, and, of course, I had a good idea what was next.
Said Morris: “We haven’t had one meeting this year.”
The rah-rah can be helpful, but pennants and world championships are won on the field, not in the clubhouse. Perhaps the Toronto management figures that once the players know how it’s done, they will know how to do it again.
But there is a problem. The Jays don’t have quite the same team they had last year.
Seven front-line players are gone-outfielders Dave Winfield and Candy Maldonado, shortstop Manny Lee, third baseman Kelly Gruber and pitchers David Cone, Jimmy Key and Tom Henke.
“I like our team,” manager Cito Gaston said. “We’re almost as strong as last year.”
Gaston and the Jays had arrived for an exhibition game with the White Sox. A light but persistent rain had prevented batting practice.
“We have a few questions,” Gaston conceded. “Third base, left field and a fifth starter.”
Ed Sprague, a former catcher who was among the Jays’ World Series heroes, has been playing third. It will be either Derek Bell or Darnell Coles or Turner Ward in left field. The fifth starter has not been sighted.
The Jays, nonetheless, have enough talent to repeat. They now have Paul Molitor, who, in effect, is Winfield’s replacement, and Dave Stewart, the long-time Oakland stalwart who will be their No. 3 starter behind Morris and Juan Guzman.
“There might not be that much difference,” Morris observed. “We lost some quality players. But Molitor and Stewart are quality players. Hopefully, it could be a wash.”
Morris, 38 in May, was the winningest pitcher in the 1980s. He is still at the top of his game: 55 victories in the 1990s. He was 21-6 last year.
“Our organization (general manager Pat Gillick) believes we’re not weaker,” Morris said. “Anyway, it’s premature to talk about this year. We might be better, and we might not be as good. We’ll find out. That’s why we play the season.”
Whatever, Morris is delighted that Molitor, a career .303 hitter, is now among his teammates.
“I always had a hard time getting him out, but so does everyone else,” he said. “He’s a great mistake hitter, typical of all good hitters. You can’t pitch him any one way.”
Morris likened Molitor to Roberto Alomar, the Jays’ star second baseman generally regarded as the AL’s best all-around player.
“They’re the same type,” said. “They can beat you a lot of ways. They produce runs.”
I mentioned that Molitor is the equal of Winfield with one exception. He doesn’t have Winfield’s power.
“Paul can hit 20,” Morris insisted. “I’m not saying he will, but he could. And he’s a leader, just like Winfield is.”
Morris laughed.
“Paul can play the same role (as Winfield); he’s a leader, but he won’t be as verbal. Winfield is a great talker.”
Morris has been on three world championship clubs in the last eight years: Detroit, 1984; Minnesota, 1991; and Toronto last year.
Neither Detroit nor Minnesota was able to repeat.
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“It’s tough winning the first time,” Morris said, “and it’s tough winning the second time. Attitude is the biggest intangible. That’s what makes it so tough the second time.”
He was asked to define “attitude.”
Morris didn’t hesitate: “Attitude is desire, motivation and sacrifice, always being willing to do what’s best for the team.”
I found Duane Ward in a corner in the clubhouse. A husky right-hander, Ward will take over for Tom Henke, one of the Jays’ many free agents who has made a new connection. For years, Henke was among the league’s premier closers.
Previously Henke’s setup man, Ward is looking forward to his new role, which will be crucial.
“I look at it this way,” Ward said. “It will be the same situation, but instead of the seventh or eighth I’ll be working the ninth. I’ll just have to stay in the bullpen and stew for an extra 20 minutes.”
Ward’s analysis isn’t quite correct. He will discover there is much more pressure in the ninth inning than in the seventh or eighth.
Likewise, there will be more pressure on the Jays to repeat. It may be advisable for the Toronto brass to begin banging the drum and calling some team meetings.